Case Studies

[ui!] UrbanPulse, Queensland, Australia

In 2016 a major Council in Queensland (population approximately 350,000) adopted their Smart City Implementation Program to guide the deployment of Smart City solutions in a staged manner across the region. By using ICT to connect people, processes, data and things the Council is seeking to improve quality of life, stimulate economic growth and ensure environmental sustainability through their region.

[ui!] began working with the Council on its staged approach to smart city solutions with a year-long Smart City Pilot Project that trialled a number of smart city technologies in two cities. The objective of the project was to create a smart parking demonstrator; develop a better understanding of how citizens and visitors are using and moving around the coast; and, showcase smart city technologies to the public in the Smart Centre and Living Lab through the visualisation functionality of [ui!’s open data platform, UrbanPulse.

[ui!] UrbanPulse, New Zealand

[ui!] was invited to work with Council to identify and scope a smart cities technologies pilot project within the smart city strategic direction of the Authority.

The aims of the trial were to:

□ Create a ‘living lab’ for Council’s smart city vision and journey;□ Provide a testbed for third party innovation, partnering and sharing;□ Inform discussions around operational effectiveness, asset management and business processes;□ Be a case study in Council’s evolution towards agile, fail-fast development and innovation; and□ Allow Council to continue to experiment with data models including open data and 3rd party data sharing.

[ui!] UrbanPulse - traffic light assist, Germany

Council’s objectives were to improve traffic flow and reduce brake/acceleration patterns, contributing to reduction of its carbon emissions (target:20% by 2020) to meet EU 'Horizon 2020' goals. In December 2015, the Council Department of Transportation and [ui!] began a joint project to create the city’s first traffic app and open data platform for traffic data. The project has three components:

[ui!] UrbanPulse - COCKPIT - Bad Hersfeld, Germany

This project established a “Smart City Lab” with the objective to improve traffic flow using the [ui!] UrbanPulse open data platform. There are two major drivers for this project:

The customer is a city in the centre of Germany with around 30,000 citizens that is known for its annual festival event attracting thousands of visitors to the city.Due to its location the City is a preferred hub for major logistic firms. There are several major truck and car routes crossing the city putting 30,000 cars and trucks on roads in the city perimeter per day. All of Germany can be served within a 4 hour period from this location. While these companies create jobs, the associated traffic causes major issues around noise and pollution.

Smart Street Lights - Cologne

Use of LED adaptive lights: using radar sensors to dim and brighten the light depending on traffic. Brought over 70% saving vs. traditional streetlights. Also installed a WiFi mesh for communication, environmental sensors and re-used the radar sensors to measure traffic flow. The latter two are linked to the traffic lights which will change based on the [ui!] UrbanPulse parameters.

Zero Energy District - Innsbruck

Smart energy district management through smart meters and integration with the utility provider’s grid management system to achieve at least 40% primary energy savings and increase the share of renewables by at least 20%. Over 1m sq ft of the city will be retrofitted with an optimized electricity grid and solutions of district heating and cooling. UrbanPulse is used to integrate the smart meter technologies (direct and hybrid sensing solutions).

Peer to Peer Energy - Saarlouis

Integrate the use of renewable energy (i.e. solar, wind, geo-thermal, water) with traditional grid energy to increase resilience and reduce peak loads through peer-to-peer energy sharing model. Through an online marketplace households may buy or sell excess renewable energy generated by their neighbors. While generating and consuming energy locally, the “holon” is off the main grid.

Real-Time Traffic Flow - Darmstadt

Re-use of radar sensors from the smart streetlights, as well as traffic camera and sensor coils in the road, to provide near real time traffic information. The data was used to determine the [ui!] UrbanPulse parameters within which traffic is “normal”. When the flow approaches a threshold, it can trigger an automatic response, such as timing of traffic lights or re-route certain type of traffic etc.

eFleet management - Berlin

Manage and optimize cross-fleet use of electric vehicles for municipal, public and corporate fleets. Fleet usage is optimized for economic efficiency in total cost of ownership. This includes route planning, real time monitoring of charging status and operational data as well as a mobile app to book the vehicle.